Lausanne Peace Treaty
Gentlemen, I don't think it is necessary any further to compare the principles underlying the
Lausanne Peace Treaty with other proposals for peace. This treaty, is a document declaring
that all efforts, prepared over centuries, and thought to have been accomplished through
the SEVRES Treaty to crush the Turkish nation have been in vain. It is a diplomatic victory
unheard of in the Ottoman history!
1927
M Kemal Atatürk
The Great Speech
Lausanne Peace Treaty VI. Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and
Turkish Populations Signed at Lausanne, January 30, 1923.
The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Greek Government have
agreed upon the following provisions:
Article 1
As from the 1st May, 1923, there shall take place a compulsory exchange of Turkish
nationals of the Greek Orthodox religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek
nationals of the Moslem religion established in Greek territory.
These persons shall not return to live in Turkey or Greece respectively without the
authorisation of the Turkish Government or of the Greek Government respectively.
Article 2
The following persons shall not be included in the exchange provided for in Article 1:
a)The Greek inhabitants of Constantinople.
b)The Moslem inhabitants of Western Thrace.
All Greeks who were already established before the 30th October, 1918, within the areas
under the Prefecture of the City of Constantinople, as defined by the law of 1912, shall be
considered as Greek inhabitants of Constantinople.
Moslems established in the region to the east of the frontier line laid down in 1918 by the
Treaty of Bucharest shall be considered as Moslem inhabitants of Western Thrace.
Article 3
Those Greeks and Moslems who have already, and since the 18th October, 1912, left the
territories the Greek and Turkish inhabitants of which are to be respectively exchanged,
shall be considered as included in the exchange provided for in Article 1.
The expression "emigrant" in the present Convention includes all physical and juridical
persons who have been obliged to emigrate or have emigrated since the 18th October,
1912.
Article 4
All able-bodied men belonging to the Greek population, whose families have already left
Turkish territory, and who are now detained in Turkey, shall constitute the first instalment
of Greeks sent to Greece in accordance with the present Convention.
Article 5
Subject to the provisions of Articles 9 and 10 of the present Convention, the rights of
property and monetary assets of Greeks in Turkey or Moslems in Greece shall not be
prejudiced in consequence of the exchange to be carried out under the present Convention.
Article 6
No obstacle may be placed for any reason whatever in the way of the departure of a person
belonging to the populations which are to be exchanged. In the event of an emigrant having
received a definite sentence of imprisonment, or a sentence which is not yet definitive, or of
his being the object of criminal proceedings, he shall be handed over by the authorities of
the prosecuting country to the authorities of the country whither he is going, in order that
he may serve his sentence or be brought to trial.
Article 7
The emigrants will lose the nationality of the country which they are leaving, and will
acquire the nationality of the country of their destination, upon their arrival in the territory
of the latter country.
Such emigrants as have already left one or other of the two countries and have not yet
acquired their new nationality, shall acquire that nationality on the date of the signature of
the present Convention.
VIII. Declaration of Amnesty
The Powers signatory of the Treaty of Peace signed this day being equally desirous to cause
the events which have troubled the peace in the East to be forgotten,
The Under-signed, acting in virtue of their full powers, have agreed to make the following
Declaration:
I. No person who inhabits or who has inhabited Turkey, and reciprocally no person who
inhabits or who has inhabited Greece, shall be disturbed or molested and reciprocally in
Greece, under any pretext whatsoever, on account of any military or political action taken
by him, or any assistance of any kind given by him to a foreign Power signatory of the
Treaty of Peace signed this day or to the nationals of such Power, between the 1st August,
1914, and the 20th November, 1922.
II. Similarly no inhabitant of the territories detached from Turkey under the said Treaty of
Peace shall be disturbed or molested either on account of his political or military attitude
against or in favour of Turkey during the period from the 1st August, 1914, to the 20th
November, 1922, or of the determination of his nationality under the said Treaty.
III. Full and complete amnesty shall be respectively granted by the Turkish Government and
by the Greek Government for all crimes or offences committed during the same period
which were evidently connected with the political events which have taken place during that
period.
Lausanne Peace Treaty / Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mfa.gov.tr)
